Tuesday, January 31, 2012

I have been using Firefox Sync to sync my bookmarks across multiple
PCs using the Firefox browser. That works great if you only have PCs running
Firefox to your name, but we have smart phones and iPads in our lives.

Are you tired of having all of your bookmarks synced across your
computers, but not your iPhone? Sure you can get the Firefox home app for free,
which contains all of your Firefox bookmarks, but how about something that's
integrated into your Safari browser on your iPhone? Enter Xmarks.

What's that? You don't sync your bookmarks on your multiple PCs? You
should, when you add a bookmark on your laptop, it automatically shows up on
your desktop and on your PC at work. Xmarks add-on for Firefox will sync your
bookmarks not only across multiple PCs running Firefox, but the add-on is also available for Chrome, Internet
Explorer, and Safari (on Macs).

Now I admit, this method is a little convoluted and there should
really be a more elegant solution, but trust that at least it works.

Are you using iCloud to backup your bookmarks on
your iPhone? The first step would be to go into Settings > iCloud and turn
off bookmark backup to iCloud.

Next, for your main browser where you keep all
of your updated bookmarks, download the Xmarks add-on. Sync all local bookmarks
to Xmarks.

If you are on Windows, download and install the
Xmarks add-on for Internet Explorer. (If you are on Mac, download and install the
Xmarks add-on for Safari.) Sync your local bookmarks to your Xmarks bookmarks.

Connect your iPhone to your computer via USB
cable.

Open iTunes. Select your iPhone in the Devices
menu on the left.

Select the Info tab at the top. Scroll down to
the Other field. Check the "Sync bookmarks with" checkbox. Click the
pulldown box next to this checkbox, and select Internet Explorer (or Safari if
you are on Mac).

Click apply at the bottom of the screen to
accept these changes. You will be warned that you will be changing the
bookmarks on your device. Opt to replace all bookmarks on your iPhone.

On the Summary tab, make sure you have the check
box “Sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi” checked. This will ensure that your
bookmarks will be synced with Xmarks every time you charge your phone at home.

Now every time you update a bookmark on your iPhone, or any PC with
Xmarks, all other devices will be updated with the same bookmark. This goes for
creating, updating, and deleting.